Beaver State News

SB 619 creates strong, comprehensive consumer data privacy rights 

The Oregon House today unanimously passed Senate Bill 619, the Oregon Consumer Privacy Act, following a nearly unanimous vote in the Senate of 23-2. Passage of the bill by such wide margins demonstrates broad bipartisan support for greater privacy protections, and sends the bill to the Governor for signing.

The bill was developed over the last four years by the Attorney General’s Consumer Privacy Task Force, created to answer the call for comprehensive consumer privacy legislation. Consumer data has immense value, and can be used beneficially to fuel innovation. But it is also used to target, exploit, and expose consumers’ highly personal information, without their consent, and in sometimes dangerous and costly ways.

“Working with 150 consumer privacy experts and stakeholders over the last three years, my team put together what we believe to be the best comprehensive consumer privacy law in the nation,“ said AG Rosenblum, for whom the bill was a centerpiece of the DOJ’s 2023 legislative agenda. “The Oregon Consumer Privacy Act defines personal and biometric data broadly, protects consumer data rights holistically, and holds companies that have access to our data to high standards. This is a huge win for Oregonians and sets a high-water mark for consumer data privacy nationwide.”

The Oregon Consumer Privacy Act affirmatively provides Oregonians with a number of important rights over their personal information, and imposes specific obligations on businesses, including non-profits, Highlights of the bill include these consumer rights:

1. Right to Know
2. Right to Correction
3. Right to Deletion
4. Right to Opt Out
5. Right to Data Portability
6. Sensitive Data Protections
7. Special Protections for Youth

The Attorney General extends her sincere gratitude to the bill’s chief sponsors and legislative champions, Senator Floyd Prozanski and Representative Paul Holvey. She also thanks her staff who so ably chaired and supported the work of the task force: Kimberly McCullough, Kate Denison, Kristen Hilton and Kelly Harpster.  In addition, she extends thanks to the AG’s Consumer Privacy Task Force’s central table members: OSPIRG, the Technology Association of Oregon, the State Privacy Coalition, the World Privacy Forum, Oregon Business & Industry, Gazelle Consulting, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the ACLU of Oregon, as well as the hundreds of individuals and organizations across the country that participated in the inclusive four-year process.

To learn more about the specifics of the Oregon Consumer Privacy Act, read the legislative summary.

Original source can be found here.